Too close? The drinks industry's unsteady deal with government

Two health organisations last month refused to sign a responsibility deal on reducing problem drinking because they felt the industry was dictating the terms. Six others have walked out. Is there a future for the initiative?

The challenges of creating policy through public-private partnerships has been exemplified recently by the row over how to tackle problem drinking in the UK.

The most recent partnership between the government and the drinks industry has brought with it accusations that the industry has become too close to the policy-makers – but recent changes in drinks pricing have brought counter-protests from the industry that the chancellor is making "baffling" policy decisions.

There has been growing pressure on the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, over his strategy of allowing food and drink industries to help form health policy since the refusal last month of two major health organisations, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Forum, to sign up to the government's "responsibility deal". Their refusal followed a walk out by six other health organisations, including the British Medical Association and Alcohol Concern, who were initially involved in drawing up the deal, but left the table, accusing the Department of Health of allowing the drinks industry to dictate policy.

More than 170 food and drink companies, including England's seven biggest supermarket chains and drinks giants Molson Coors and Diageo, which owns brands including Guinness and Gordon's, signed up to the deal last month, pledging better warning labelling on food and alcohol. Under the deal, the drinks industry will provide alcoholic unit information on beermats or pint glasses in pubs and display warnings on bottles about drinking while pregnant.

The Department of Health said the deal formed "one strand of action complemented by other approaches designed, developed and delivered by the government and the public sector". By working in partnership with voluntary organisations and business, it could "deliver faster and better results than a regulatory route," the department said.

But other government moves have further highlighted the challenges of partnership with the private sector.

The recent announcement that there would be a rise in alcohol prices of 2% above inflation in the chancellor's budget, however, along with an earlier pledge to continue the alcohol duty escalator, which will raise duty on higher-strength beers from October while reducing that for lower-strength drinks, has angered some of the government's partners. The alcohol industry said the decision was "baffling", while Molson Coors, owners of Carling, called it the "continued persecution of beer and pubs in Britain".

The British Medical Association says the issue of tackling problem drinking is complex and is calling for a longer-term strategy. "The drinks companies are there to implement strategy, but policy must be made on the evidence. There's obviously a conflict of interest here."

The drinks industry has strongly defended its involvement in government policy. Rachael Robertson, head of government affairs for Diageo, says the marketing experience and data of drinks companies are valuable for policy-makers. The company says the responsibility deal is "a good example of how we can be part of a collaborative approach to improve the long-term health of the public". Diageo says it has "an important role to play", sharing its experience and knowledge of the sector alongside government, non-governmental organisations, the medical community and academics. The company says it supports all seven collective pledges of the Department for Health's Alcohol Network and will share ideas for additional pledges."

Campaigners have long called for a more aggressive policy and have criticised both the present and previous government's closeness to the drinks industry.

Labour saw partnership as an answer to tackling the growth in alcohol-related problems, and in 2006 set up the Drinkaware Trust, which campaigns on responsible drinking and provides educational resources and grants to local alcohol initiatives, but is entirely funded by the industry.

The Scottish Executive also formed the Alcohol Industry Partnership Agreement with producers and retailers in 2007.

Partnerships also go further than self-regulation, mainly led by the Portman Group, but Dr Sarah Wollaston, a member of the Commons health select committee, who introduced a private members bill last week calling for limits on alcohol marketing, echoes a lack of trust felt by some. "It's like putting the fox with the chickens – both the Portman Group and the Drinkaware Trust are industry funded," she says.

Wollaston says there needs to be a "three-pronged attack" on price, availability and marketing if problem drinking is to be tackled – and sees this as a matter for government action.

She says the relative affordability of alcohol has increased 70% in the last 30 years. "The threat of breaching of European directives is brought up if anyone tries to introduce measures to tackle prices, but this is in dispute," she says. "I'd like to see the Treasury challenge this as they successfully did in France under the Loi Evin measure on public health grounds."

She adds: "The line is that this will need to go through Europe, but this means years of wrangling. The French culture was less about bingeing and public disobedience, but they had huge problems with alcohol and liver problems, and they established a principle in the European courts. Why can't we do the same?"

Wollaston also argues that while central government is keen to see the issue in local terms, local authorities don't have enough powers to bring about changes. "We've tackled the availability problem – licensing officers and the police do have powers to shut down premises," she says, "but pricing is a real problem."

Last year the 10 councils that make up the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities announced they would be looking at introducing a 50p per unit minimum price on alcohol using a by-law against "nuisances' to tackle disorder and health issues from alcohol. The north-west has one of the worst problems in England and a task force was set up by the AGMA to look into the initiative.

A similar move on minimum pricing in Scotland failed after coming up against political opposition, while Northern Ireland has just launched a consultation on the issue.

"It's not a Manchester issue or a Scottish issue," says Wollaston, who argues for a national approach. "Nothing will happen unless the Department of Health takes a stronger lead in saying we need to tackle the health problems we have. They say it falls to the local level and local authorities, but it's absolutely falls to central government – both the Treasury and the Department of Health."

• This article was amended on 8 April to include the participation of the Manchester task force.